Arthur Crawford

2020-12-31T07:48:44Z

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{{for|the Australian politician|Arthur Crawford (politician)}}
{{infobox person
| image = Arthur-Crawford.jpg
| caption = Arthur Travers Crawford, the first Municipal Commissioner (1865-1871)
| birth_date = {{birth year|1835}}
| death_date = {{death year and age|1911|1835}}
| nationality = British
| occupation = civil servant, author
| known_for = [[Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai]] (1865-1871)
}}
'''Arthur Travers Crawford''' (1835–1911) was the first [[Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai|Municipal Commissioner]] and [[district collector|collector]] of [[Bombay]] (now [[Mumbai]]), [[India]]. Crawford was famous as an able administrator as well as for his allegedly, underhand financial dealings.

Crawford acquired the Agri-Horticulture Society's gardens at [[Sewri]] in order to build the European cemetery in 1865. [[Crawford Market]] in [[South Mumbai]] was named after him. When he took over as Commissioner, water supply was scanty, garbage was piling up and the mortality rate was a high 40 per 1,000. Crawford cleaned the streets, fixed the drains and lowered the mortality rate by half from 35,000 to 18,000 over the next two years. However his plans greatly overshot the civic budget and he was accused of financial mismanagement after he refused to heed to warnings that the deficit was ever widening. While criticised by many, he was defended by lawyer [[Pherozeshah Mehta]] during the Municipal controversy circa 1870.

Later in his career it was alleged that Crawford had accepted bribes from [[mamlatdar]]s (executive heads of a [[taluka]]). This prompted a fierce public debate led by [[Lokmanya Tilak]] and [[Gopal Krishna Gokhale]]. The subsequent inquiry, chaired by Judge [[Arthur Wilson (judge)|Arthur Wilson]] of the [[Calcutta High Court]], found Crawford (then the Commissioner of [[Bombay Presidency]]'s Central Division), not guilty of accepting bribes but only of borrowing money from official subordinates. Crawford was subsequently removed from the Civil Service List and asked to return to [[London]].

According to Govid Talwalkar's author of ''Gopal Krishna Gokhale: His Life and Times'', a June 1890 ''[[Westminster Review]]'' article alleged that Crawford's illegal funds were transferred to [[Europe]] through a [[France|French]] bank. Then, as a decoy, he wrote two letters to his brother based in Bombay that he would commit suicide at Holkar Bridge in Poona (now [[Pune]]). Dressed as a tramp, he boarded the third-class compartment of a Bombay-bound train. While in a hotel near the docks, the police got wind of his presence and arrested him. Crawford had tried to buy a ticket to [[Colombo]].

Back in London, he penned his memoirs on his life in India, titled ''Our Troubles in Poona and the Deccan'' which was published in 1897. He described many communities in the Bombay region along with their sketches. He meted out special harsh criticism on [[Brahmins]]. His fluency in [[Marathi language|Marathi]] ironically however led contemporary writer [[N. C. Kelkar]] to comment that Crawford could have passed off as a [[Chitpawan Brahmin]] had he donned a [[dhoti]]. Other books published by Crawford include ''Reminiscence of an Indian Police Officer'', ''The Unrest in India'' and ''Legends of Konkan''.

==References==
* ''Our Troubles in Poona and the Deccan'', Arthur Crawford, Archibald Constable & Co., London, UK, 1897.
*[http://theory.tifr.res.in/bombay/persons/arthur-crawford.html Arthur Crawford] – TIFR Mumbai pages
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070310203157/http://mid-day.com/smd/play/2005/august/116226.htm Arthur Crawford who?]; ''[[Mid-day]]''; Alpana Lath Sawai; August 14, 2005
*''The colourful Arthur Crawford''; Nina Martyris/[[Times News Network|TNN]]; ''[[Times of India]]'', Mumbai; pg-2; 2006-04-01

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[[Category:Indian civil servants]]
[[Category:1835 births]]
[[Category:1911 deaths]]

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Arthur Crawford